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JIllian Lauren

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I thought you might be interested in seeing the original photo (thanks, Christophe Liglet!) that the Everything You Ever Wanted book cover design is based on.

In celebration of the fact that I just finished the final-est, drop-dead (no, really, this is really it) revisions, I’m going to do a giveaway of one of the ARCs (advance reader copies). Sign up for my monthly newsletter under that picture of my head to the right, and leave a comment on this post saying you did. If you’re already signed up that counts too, just leave a comment. I’ll enter your name in a drawing and send a signed copy to the winner! I’ll announce the winner on Monday.

I realize that my posts about the new memoir have been a bit confusing: Oh, I finished. Wait, I finished again. Hey remember when I said I finished? Well now I really finished.

This is what writing a book is like. There are drafts. There are edits. There are more drafts. There are copyedits. The ARC comes out. Then there is a big stack of typeset pages that you correct with an old-fashioned red pen. After you send that back, you can find as many egregious mistakes as you want, they’re going in the final book anyway.

If, as I did, you always hoped to be a writer, every step of the way is the stuff of dreams. And it’s still oddly anti-climactic. Where is the one big moment to pop the cork?!

I always want life to give me the dramatic Hollywood scene: the big proposal in the rainstorm, the shaft of sunlight through the clouds. Reaching the top of the snow-capped mountain and raising my arms in victory.

Really, the climb up a mountain is slow and largely an endurance test. Often, when you get to the top you just have to pee and your camera is out of batteries and some asshole left a bunch of empty Cheetos bags on the ground. So you might as well take advantage of the many opportunities to stop, take a breath, and look at the beautiful views along the way. First holding the ARC in my hand is definitely one of those moments. I hope you enjoy it, too!

67 thoughts on “Everything You Ever Wanted ARC Giveaway!”

I signed up for your newsletter and have crossed my fingers for this new book of yours! Cannot wait to read it, Jillian. Thank you for sharing your story with us. 🙂 I loved being around Tariku at Doe Bay; he is so full of life and wonder.

Hi Jillian!
I’m subscribed, baby! And counting the days til I get to see you at AROHO. Will you be at AWP too? Congrats on the ARC and imminent publication! I’m very impressed with the speed of your publisher – I finished the final edits of TAW in August and it won’t be out until July! Sigh. Not an industry for the impatient. Can’t wait to read your new one!!! xoJennifer

I just signed up for the newsletter. I’ve read and enjoyed your two previous books. Since I live about 30 minutes away from the nearest bookstore, it would be awesome to have a copy of the new one sent directly to the house. Thank you for sharing your world with us!

i signed up for your newsletter. Very interested in reading your book as we have 4 beautiful grandchildren adopted from Ethiopia.
My husband just finished, finished, finished his book, too. I can totally relate

Subscribed to your newsletter!Would love to read this before it comes out. Hope you get to do a promotional tour like you got to with some girls. It was a pleasure meeting you in SF. Congrats on all your sucesses

loved the description of ” the proces.” The idea of stopping to “smell the flowers” along the path is so true of everything in life! You have a beautiful and spiritual way of seeing things and putting them into prose. So very proud and happy for you.

I just signed up for your newsletter, and would love an advanced copy of your new book! And I really think you should send me a copy, because 1) I’m an Antioch grad as well, and 2) I’ve really loved your work, and think your new book would be a wonderful accompaniment to my upcoming vacation. 😉

Signed up, although I thought I had already. Would love a copy of the book, especially since we got to see a few of the cover options at WriteDoeBay. Loved hearing your story and sharing space with you and T!

congrats on your new book! I can’t wait to read it( and your others for that matter!!) and crossing my fingers to be the lucky one for the signed one!! Can’t imagine how great it feels to write a book! I need help to get that going for me……:)

I had already signed up and can’t wait to read your new book, having loved the first two. Not sure if you’ll mail outside the US – to France – but a signed paperback would be awesome. I pre-ordered the Kindle but real paper is always preferred! Wishing you a terrific launch and I’ll spread the word over here to the many, many anglophone writers and readers in Paris. Loved the description of the top of the mountain with the pee need and Cheetos.

Oh could I be so lucky to win TWO of your book giveaways?! I hope so! You know I am already a subscriber and I am so proud of you and the new book! I cannot wait to read it….xoxo LOVE to you my friend!

Congratulations on the birth of your newest book! Your words, whether in memoir, tweet, or reflection on the writing process (and family life) are ones I have enjoyed and been inspired by for years. Looking forward to the big launch in May, and all the happy cork-popping moments in between!

READER'S GUIDE

I Tell Stories

Family Roots December 9, 2014
A woman finds an unexpected new family when she adopts a son, a bad soldier learns to write from personal loss, and a man is working at a nuclear power plant when disaster strikes.http://themoth.org/posts/episodes/1425

Testimonials

In this ferociously brave, funny, and heartwarming memoir, Jillian Lauren parses the challenges and rewards of motherhood with true grace and humility. No other parenting book has ever made me feel so validated about the big, messy, beautiful picture of what it means to care for another human being. I closed the cover in awe of both the author, and of parenthood itself.

— Claire Bidwell Smith, author of The Rules of Inheritance and After This

Jillian Lauren is the author of the New York Times bestselling memoir, Some Girls: My Life in a Harem and the novel, Pretty, both published by Plume/Penguin. Some Girls has been translated into seventeen different languages. Her next memoir, Everything You Ever Wanted, is coming out from Plume in 2014.

Jillian has an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University. Her writing has appeared in The Paris Review, The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Los Angeles Magazine and Salon.com among others and has been anthologized widely, including in The Moth Anthology, True Tales of Lust and Love and Best of Babble Blogs.

She has performed at spoken word and storytelling events across the country, including being a regular on The Moth mainstage, and has been interviewed on such television programs as The View, Good Morning America and Howard Stern.

She is a popular and sometimes controversial blogger at MSNBC, The Huffington Post and Jillianlauren.com, which was named a Top 100 Mom Blog of 2012 by Babble Magazine.

Jillian is married to Weezer bass player Scott Shriner. They live in Los Angeles with their two sons.